Many people are desperately trying to lose weight, and fad diets abound. The problem with fad diets is that they are attractive, often offering a fast and easy way to lose weight. When people try these diets, they might lose a few pounds, but the weight (or sometimes even more) will come right back. This yo-yoing in your weight is extremely unhealthy, and can damage your body. Even people who are sure they’d never do a fad diet are often sucked into them. Here’s how to avoid fad diets so you can focus on the healthy way to lose weight – a balanced diet and exercise
What You’ll Need:
Water
Healthy Food
Common Sense
Internet
Patience
1. Drink Plenty of Water
Drink at least 8 glasses of water a day. You need about 64 ounces of water every day to avoid getting dehydrated and to stay healthy. Drinks like coffee will actually dehydrate you, so try to stick with water. If that’s just too boring, you can add something like Crystal Light, because it won’t add a huge amount of calories.
2. Eat Healthy Food
To lose weight, you need to eat healthy. Try to focus your eating on things like fruits, vegetables, and lean meats or fish. Make sure you get plenty of whole grains too. Don’t cut out everything that you like, or every dessert. If you completely avoid ice cream, for example, you’ll pig out on it next time you get a craving you can’t ignore. Eat your desserts as they are meant to be eaten – in moderation and occasionally as a treat.
3. Common Sense
Think before you leap into a fad diet. A fad diet may offer to help you lose a huge amount of weight very quickly. This isn’t realistic. Never lose more than 2 pounds a week, or you’ll be losing water, muscle, and possibly bone mass. Another thing fad diets like to claim is that you won’t need to exercise. You have to exercise if you want to lose weight, so if you think about it, you know that diets like that can’t work. Avoid diets that either tell you that you can eat as much as you want of certain things, or to avoid certain things all the time. These diets are not good diets in that you won’t learn how to truly manage your eating, and you could end up missing key nutrients you need. While some foods do help you lose weight, there isn’t a magic combination, another thing to watch for with fad diets. Also, any diet that claims that it can cure a disease or is based on your blood type is not for real. If it sounds too good to be true, it is.
4. Use the Internet
The Internet is for more than just Facebook. Research any diet that you’re interested in, but don’t be pulled into the hype. Review the diet’s claims and make sure that it will give you a balanced diet, a new way of eating, and will actually help you in the long run, not just immediately. You can also visit sites such as the American Dietetic Association, which will help you review diets so that you can avoid the fad ones.
5. Have Patience
It took you years to put on the weight you now want to lose. It’ll take time for you to lose it. While it would be wonderful if the fad diet claims were true and you could avoid having to exercise and will lose a ton of weight, they aren’t. You have to work out, eat right, and really focus to be able to lose the weight and you have to have patience. It’ll be well worth it.
April 26th, 2011 at 6:29 am
Hi, thanks for such great info . I have really enjoyed this blog and will be back!!